Doorsill seal



July 29, 1952 B. E. HoRNoR, JR

DOORSILL SEAL Filed June 50, 1950 l, ..-ll

INVENTOR lyd'rmaz; J1:

ATTORNEYS lPatented July 29, 1952 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE `2,604,677nooRslLL sEAr. Boyd E. Horner, Jr., Fort Lauderdale, AFla. ApplicationJune 30,1950, Serial No. 171,322 4 Claims. (Cl. 207-68) This inventionrelates to door sill seals of the type which are carried by the door andauto.- matically lift responsive to the initial opening movement of thedoor, and automatically lower at the iinal closing movement of the doorto `engage the door sill or floor in an air or moisture tight manner,and to exclude dust, insects and vermin.

In known devices of this charac-ter, the immediate sealing means isusually aexiblestrip extending across the .bottom ,of the door, liftedby a spring which reacts against the seal at one end, and lowered bymeans located at the opposite end, which opposes the spring. Due to thelength of the device, it is` thus subjected lto a twisting torque sothat unless made sturdy, the edge of the sealing strip becomeslongitudinally distorted and will not lie against the threshold withuniform pressure throughout, resulting in an imperfect seal. The makingof the known device -suiciently inherently rigid to withstand thistorque distortion increases the expensiveness `offthe device.

The principal object of the present invention is to provide a doorsillseal of the type described, in which the torque between the springand the lowering means which acts. against the spring are at the sameend of the device, so that the torque effect upon .the seal is confinedwithin a short portion of its length, avoiding thedistortion abovereferred to.

,Other objects of the invention will appear as the following descriptionof a preferred and practical embodiment thereof proceeds.

In the drawing which vaccompanies and forms a part of the followingspecication, and throughout the iigures of which the same referencecharacters have been used to denote identical parts:

Figure l is a front view in elevation showing the lower part of a doorand its jambs with the door sill seal of the present invention appliedthereto, an intermediate portion of the device being broken away;

Figure 2` is a horizontal section taken 4along the line 2--2 of Figure 1Figure 3- is a verticalsection taken along the line. 3 3 of Figure lFigure 4 is 4a vertical section on an enlarged scale taken along theline 4-4 of Figure 1 Figure 4a is a section taken along the line dar-4aof Figure 1;

Figure 5 is a section similar to Figure 3, but showing the actuating pinabove the axis of the springoperated member, the arrangement being 5sing a ,lug 29 `-at one point which keys 'into' acorfQr, a door that@1058 with the door Sill Seal trailing;

Figure 8 is a vertical Section italien @199g Us? is .hinged to the amba; and that iherire ledge' 4' of the door closesagainst a rabbet 45 0nh? fol?? In general aaClOl Sill Seal .i5 RISC@ in @Ime-@HPB with theoutsidedoors of a house. These 'may open either into the room-as in mostresidences, or open toward the street, as in most public build-'- in gs`to satisfy fire regulations. In either ease, the door sill seal ismounted on the outsideof the door, that is, the side exposed totheweather. Consequently, in the closing movement of are#- sidence doorthe door sill seal lea-ds, while in the oase ci a door which opens to.the street, the door sill seal trails. TheV group o fFigures to 4represent the door of a residence in'which', in closing, .the door sillseal leads. The doorfsllseal is equally Vadapted to inside doorsfor`teinpera. turey controlled -rooms or where dust exclusion is of'prime importance, etc. The door sill [seal comprises a casing 6 whichextends substantiany the full width of the space betweejnthe door jambs,.being just sumciently shorter `than said space to clear the jambs inthe arcuate move ment of the door. VThe casing comprises a. hol.- lowcylindrical portion 'l .and l a ilat f llnge integral therewith yandtangent `thereto, lh ving facilities such as the screws 9 for attachingthe door sill seal to the lower part of the doorflie cylindrical portionserves as a'seat vor bearing for a tube I0, which viits rotatablyjwithin said casing. The cylindrical portion 1 is provided `.with

Ia slot Il, extending t'l'iereacross,` the width fam?- plitude of saidslot beingabout `f` off the' inner circumference of said cylindricalmember, said Slot beine Qn the forward :Side 1Q fSail :mmblr beginningsubstantially at' its horizontal aigial plane and extending.d'ownwardlyQ`W f` 'The tube'l has a relatively narrow slot liet--tending its full llength and-in registry with Q the slot Il throughout`the range of arcuate move,- ment of said` tube,` as Will be explainedReferring @Figure itis ASeen that the endrof the tube I0 which isadiacentthe hinge ,end of the doorfthat is, adjacent the lamb 3,isclosel by means of a cap 13, which .may ;befli-xedin place by yanysuitable means. It .isshown have 'responding slot 30 formed in the tubeI0. The opposite end of the tube I is closed by a cap I4, secured in thesame manner as the cap I3, and the adjacent end of the casing is closedby a cap I5. The cap I has a peripheral lug 3| which projects into theslot II tting the width thereof. A flexible strip I6 of any suitablematerial, such as rubber, neoprene, etc., has one edge I1 inserted inthe slot I2. Said inserted edge extends the full length of the tube IU,the caps I3 and I4 being slotted as at 28 to receive said edge, but thestrip I6 extends laterally beyond said edge as at I8 and I9, so as to becoextensive with the overall length of the casing 6. The width of theiiexible strip I6 is such that when it is in sealing relation to thefloor or threshold, it is bent out or its normal position of repose andassumes a deformed shape, as shown particularly in Figure 4, pressingthe floor or threshold with a uniform pressure from end to end.

A pin 20 is xed within the tube IU adjacent one end thereof, extendingoutwardly beyond the casing 6 through the cap I4 near its periphery.This pin is designed to engage the stop plate 2|, in the nal closingmovement of the door, which is attached to the back Wall of a recess 22formed in the rabbet of the jamb. The pin 2i! is cut with the rabbets asshown in Figure 6, forming a shoulder 33 that lies adjacent the innerside of the cap I4, a shoulder 34 which bears against the end Wall ofthe tube I0, and a shoulder 35 which lies adjacent the outer side of thecap I5. The pin so constructed provides stops t0 prevent end movementsof the parts which lie contiguous to its several shoulders, and theouter end of said pin is at the maximum radial distance from the axis ofthe tube ID. giving it optimum mechanical advantage in opposing the biasof the spring A post 23 is xed to the center of the cap I5 and projectsinward axially of the tube I0, passing freely through a central aperturein the cap I4. A spring support 24 extends diametrically across the tubeI0, having its ends set in apertures in said tube. A spiral spring 25has its ends respectively anchored to the post 23 and spring support 24,the direction of twist of said spring being such as to cause it to reactbetween the fixed post andthe movable spring support to rotate the tubeIll in such a direction as to tilt the flexible sealing strip I6 in anupward direction, its uppermost position being indicated in broken linesin Figures 3, 4 and 5.

The cap I5 has the arcuate slot 26 through which the pin 20 passes,providing play for the movement ofsaid pin as the tube I0 rotates withinthe casing.

Figure 3 shows the pin and slot located in the lower arc of the path ofoscillation of the tube I0 and adapted to be moved from a low to a highposition in said arc when the door is moved in the direction of thearrow t0 close it. Obviously, as the pin 20 moves up, the tube I0rotates in a clockwise direction, lowering the sealing stripY from thebroken line to full line position shown inFigure 3.

AYrieure 5 shows the pm zo andv Slot ze in the upperarc of the end ofthe casing B. This figure depicts a door which opens outwardly to thestreet. The arrow indicates its closing direction. It is obvious that,starting with the pin Il in the lower end` of the slot, it will collidewith the stop plate 2| as the door closes, and be raised upwardly as ittraverses the arcuate 4 wise direction and brings the sealing strip I1into close engagement with the floor. In this case the stop plate 2| isset out from the door engaging surface of the jamb on a block 21, in-

stead of being at the back of a recess as in Figures 1 to 4.

Due to the fact that the operating pin 20 is at the same end of the tubeI0 as the spring 25, only a very small portion of the length of saidtube will be subjected to tortional stress, and consequently, the tubeI0 may be counted upon to maintain its untwisted cylindrical condition,keeping the lower edge of the sealing strip I6 rectilinear and causingit to press uniformly against the floor or threshold from end to end.

It will be understood that the pin 20 rotates the tube I0 in a contradirection with respect to the bias of the spring 25, so that it is notthe spring which presses the flexible sealing strip against the oor orthreshold, but the inherent resiliency in the sealing strip, urged bythe pressure of the pin 2B.

While I have in the above description disclosed what I believe to be apreferred and practical embodiment of the invention, it will beunderstood by those skilled in the art that the specic details ofconstruction and arrangement of parts, as described, are by way ofillustration and not to be construed as limiting the spirit or scope ofthe invention.

What I claim as my invention is:

1. Door sill seal comprising a casing having means for securing itwidthwise against a door, said casing having a cylindrical bore and alongitudinal slot opening into said bore, a tube rotatably tting withinsaid bore having a longitudinal flexible sealing strip secured theretoeX- tending through the slot in said casing, a pin projectinglongitudinally from one end of said i0 tube. rotatable therewith andextending beyond slot. This rotates the tube I0 in a counterclock- 75the adjacent end of said casing, a closure for said end of the tubehaving a central aperture and a slot at its periphery forming a passagefor said pin, a closure for the adjacent end of said casing nonrotatablysecured to said casing by a. lug on one interdigitating with a slot inthe other, said last named closure having an arcuate slot through whichsaid pin extends and in which it plays, a post iixed to said casingclosure at the center extending through the aperture in said tubeclosure and axially within said tube, a spring support fixed within saidtube at a distance from said closures, a helical spring about said postanchored at its respective ends to said post and said spring supportunder axial tension, normally biased to react against said post torotate said tube in a direction to tilt said sealing strip upward, saidpin and slot being so angularly displaced with respect to thecircumference of said tube as to rotate the latter in a direction contrato the bias of said spring when said pin is moved through said slot incontacting the door jamb as the door is closed, for tilting the fiexiblestrip downward.

2. Door sill seal as claimed in claim 1, the jamb contacting portion ofsaid pin being offset in a radial direction away from the axis ofrotation of said tube, thereby increasing the mechanical advantage ofsaid pin in opposing the bias of said spring.

3. Door sill seal comprising a casing having means for securing itwidthwise against a door, said casing having a cylindrical bore and alongitudinal slot opening into said bore, a tube rotatably fittingwithin said bore having a longitudinal ilexible sealing strip securedthereto extending through the slot in said casing, a pin projectinglongitudinally from one end of said tube rotatable therewith andextending beyond the adjacent end of said casing, a closure for saidadjacent end of said casing nonrotatably secured to said casing by a lugon one engaging with a slot inthe other, said closure having a fixedpost at its center coaxial with said tube and extending thereinto, asupport for a spring fixed within said tube longitudinally spaced fromthe inner end of said post, a helical spring within said tube anchoredat its respective ends to said post and support under axial tension,normally biased to react against said post to rotate said tube in adirection to tilt said sealing strip upward, said closure having anarcuate slot concentric to said post through which said pin extends andwithin which it plays, said slot being so positioned as t0 present saidpin in position to rotate said tube contra to the bias of said springwhen said pin contacts the door jamb as the door is closed, for tiltingthe flexible strip downward.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the le ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 578,616 White Mar. 9, 18971,145,196 Higgin July 6, 1915 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date756,756 France Sept. 25, 1933

